Timeline of Events: 1971 to 1980

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July 4, 1971President Nixon announces as a national goal a commitment to complete a Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor demonstration plant by 1980. In what he refers to as the first comprehensive energy message to Congress by a United States president, Nixon calls the breeder reactor the best hope for meeting the growing demand for economical clean energy.

August 7, 1972The Atomic Energy Commission announces a cooperative agreement with industry to build a Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor on the Clinch River in Tennessee.

June 1973President Nixon directs Dixy Lee Ray, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, to review federal and private energy research and development activities and recommend an integrated national program.

June 29, 1973President Nixon establishes the Energy Policy Office. The office is responsible for formulating and coordinating energy policies at the presidential level.

October 6, 1973The Yom Kippur War breaks out in the Middle East. October 17, 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries declares an oil embargo, sparking the first "energy crisis."

November 7, 1973President Nixon launches Project Independence, with the goal of achieving energy self-sufficiency by 1980. Recalling the Manhattan Project, Nixon declares that American science, technology, and industry can free the United States from dependence on foreign oil.

December 4, 1973The Federal Energy Office replaces the Energy Policy Office. The new office is assigned the task of allocating reduced petroleum supplies to refiners and consumers and of controlling the price of oil and gasoline. William Simon is named Administrator.

October 11, 1974President Ford signs the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, abolishing the Atomic Energy Commission and establishing the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

January 19, 1975The Energy Research and Development Administration is activated. The new agency is given responsibility for the Atomic Energy Commission's nuclear weapons program. President Ford appoints Robert C. Seamans, Jr., as Administrator.

March 27, 1975The first pipe is laid on the Alaska Pipeline, which will move crude oil 800 miles through a 48-inch pipe from the North Slope of Alaska to the ice-free port of Valdez, Alaska. Construction is completed in two years.

March 24, 1977The Energy Research and Development Administration announces the establishment of the Solar Energy Research Institute, a Federal facility dedicated to finding and improving ways to harness and use energy from the sun, at Golden, Colorado.

April 18, 1977President Carter announces National Energy Plan in his first major energy speech. His plan calls for the establishment of an energy department.

August 4, 1977President Carter signs the Department of Energy Organization Act. The Federal Energy Administration and Energy Research and Development Administration are abolished.

August 5, 1977James R. Schlesinger is sworn in as first Secretary of Energy.

October 1, 1977The Department of Energy (DOE) is activated. Bringing together a score of organizational entities from a dozen departments and agencies, the new department is also given responsibility for the nuclear weapons program.

October 5-6, 1977Secretary Schlesinger signs nine international energy agreements at a meeting of the International Energy Agency in Paris

October 18, 1977DOE proposes to accept and take title to spent nuclear reactor fuel from utilities on payment of one-time storage fee. In order to implement the policy, DOE will need both interim and permanent spent fuel storage capability

December 21, 1977DOE establishes Western Area Power Administration with headquarters in Denver, Colorado

November 9, 1978President Carter signs the National Energy Act, which includes the National Energy Conservation Policy Act, the Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act, the Energy Tax Act, and the Natural Gas Policy Act.

January 16, 1979The Shah flees Iran. Cessation of oil exports results in worldwide shortage of oil. Oil-consuming nations are using two million barrels of oil a day more than are being produced.

March 28, 1979A partial meltdown of the core occurs at one of the two reactors at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

July 15, 1979President Carter declares energy to be the immediate test of ability to unite the Nation and proposes $88 billion decade-long effort to enhance production of synthetic fuels from coal and shale oil reserves.

August 24, 1979Charles W. Duncan, Jr., is sworn in as second Secretary of Energy.